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Warning: This review deals frankly with the sexual and violent content of this film. The review is not suitable for children. Reader discretion is advised.

Life on the store shelf isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. All of the many items hanging out on the shelves are impatiently waiting to be “chosen” by “the gods”… or may I just say the humans. Frank the sausage (Seth Rogen) and Brenda the hot dog bun (Kristen Wiig) have a thing for each other and hope to be “chosen” together to enter what everyone calls “The Great Beyond,” or simply life outside of the grocery store. Shelf life is pretty boring, and these guys are getting impatient to move on to greater things until their friend Honey Mustard (Danny McBride) is returned in exchange for plain old ordinary Mustard. He shares his horrifying experience in “The Great Beyond,” but not everybody believes him.

However, many experience being around “the gods” first-hand, as some get purchased and others fall from shelves and carts into their clutches… and directly into the trash. A feminine product (no need to spell out the name) blames Frank for an accident and swears revenge on him, as they remain at the store. And while tension heats up inside the store, let’s just say things in “The Great Beyond” get even worse, as many more food buddies experience the horrific reality that the evil humans slice, dice, and consume their friends on a regular basis. News spreads fast, and everyone in the store wakes up to the reality that life outside the supermarket is no picnic (pun intended). They must band together and come up with a plan to defend themselves from “the gods,” before they all become someone’s meal. But is it already too late? Not according to Frank’s watch it isn’t.

“Sausage Party” certainly has an amusing concept, as we are literally taken into the secret life of food. However, the film heavily relies on non-stop vulgar and obscene humor, and, after the opening musical number, the film just wasn’t that funny any more. The plot is rather thin, the direction is sub-par, and the animation itself really wasn’t all too impressive. “Sausage Party” doesn’t have any likable characters, lacks character development, and just feels rather messy at times (in more ways than one). Sure, the idea itself is somewhat unique, and the work with the multiple sub-plots was well executed. But other than that, “Sausage Party” is more or less a misfire on multiple levels.

Oh, where to begin. From the opening scene to the closing credits, “Sausage Party” is a non-stop garbage fest filled with graphic sexual content, nudity (if you even really want to call it that), some startling, yet extreme, cartoon violence, and mountains full of crass, vulgar, and obscene language. There are near constant, graphic jokes made about both male and female genitalia, sexual acts, including, but not limited to, oral and anal sex, masturbation, fetishes, homosexuality, and bodily fluids. Many food items talk about the sexual acts they would like to carry out with other food items. One food item nestles up to a female shopper’s breasts, another gets his face stuffed in a woman’s clothed crotch (more nasty dialog ensues as we get a good close-up), and many of the food items display rather curvy features that share what I may call “food nudity.” A lot of these food items display similarities to both male and female genitalia. There are a couple of cheap shots at purity and virginity, one of the main villains is a feminine product who gets ample screen-time, a used condom shares his horrific experiences, and many humans (mainly female) wear very tight, formfitting and revealing clothing. Brenda the bun gets ogled by characters on a number of occasions, and the camera likes to linger on her figure, as well.

There is obvious sexual tension between food characters, Brenda goes off on how she wants to be “filled,” food items “flash” each other, and many more discussions about sexual acts take place within the film’s short 90 minute run-time. Brenda gets groped by a bunch of food items (making Frank extremely jealous), and sex is just about to take place as the scene cuts away. A taco turns out to be a lesbian and wants to have sex with Brenda, and in one graphic scene a character sucks the juice out of the bottom of a juice box as it cries in agony. The same evil feminine product goes after a guy in yet another graphic and somewhat disturbing sequence by chasing him down and partially entering his body in order to take control of him. We see the character’s face through the man’s unzipped crotch as he moves him throughout the store. A masturbation simulation ensues as a sausage gets caught on the crotch of the same guy’s pants. I don’t think I need to say any more about that.

The film decides to end with pornographic content, as Frank and Brenda break the tension and have graphic, sexual intercourse. The camera hardly stays off the two, as we witness despicable sexual acts and movements. Yes, it gets worse. The entire grocery store decides to take part in one huge orgy, as group sex plays out for the remaining few minutes of the film. From oral to anal sex and everything in between, “Sausage Party” covers just about every disgusting sexual act possible. Both gay and group sex take place, BDSM takes a bow, fetishes rage, threesomes and lap dances ensue, and many, many more filthy acts occur in the final moments of this piece of trash film. It is extremely graphic, as food genital areas are seen, and so many more despicable sexual acts are witnessed. I was appalled by what was displayed on screen.

The language is off the charts, as there are nearly 200 f-words (paired with “mother” and used sexually dozens of times), about 45 s-words, and approximately 20 abuses of God’s name (paired with d**n at least four times). Jesus’ name is abused nearly five times (paired once with the f-word) and dozens of other profanities come into play like a**, d**k, d**n, h*ll, p*ss, p**sy (as a put down), pr**k, and b**ch. The word “douche” is said countless times, numbers of words for both male and female genitalia are said, one character says “F U,” and “scr*w,” “s*cks” and the word “frigging” pop up a couple of times. A character says “b**thole,” someone is called a “whore” a few times, and the cringe worthy c-word is said about three times total, as well.

Being an animated feature, most of the violence in “Sausage Party” is rather cartoon-like. That doesn’t mean it is mild. Though pretty much bloodless, the camera does not refrain from showing food in great pain and agony as countless amounts of food get sliced, chopped up, fried, consumed, thrown, boiled, smashed, shredded, stabbed, impaled, and thrown away. One very tasteless and disrespectful scene takes a stab at the opening scene of “Saving Private Ryan.” As groceries go flying out of a cart, a bag of flour explodes and groceries get demolished, debris go flying, and characters get shot down and impaled. A can of spaghetti spills out, as he tries to pull his insides back together, and other characters run around looking for their missing limbs. Liquids spray amidst the mayhem. A glass bottle is killed by getting his bottle cap ripped off. The scene is played out as if a human were getting his neck broken. We get the visual and the cringe worthy sound of the act. Ketchup and tomato sauce serve as the blood in this feature, and we get a look at some photos of more food in agony, as they’re being consumed.

Humans tend to get it even worse, though, as mounds of shoppers get attacked with toothpicks, chased down by rebellious groceries, shot with gumballs, and one woman slams into a glass door and gets her head beaten against the ground. We see her bruised, bloody face. As one guy gets attacked, a soda bottle takes off his cap and enters the man’s mouth. The man’s face grows bigger and bigger until it eventually explodes. Tons of explosions take place in the final act, and gunfire even comes into play when an employee whips out a pistol. As customers get brutally attacked by the food, one guy somehow gets tied up to fireworks and is seen in the distance as it explodes into the sky. His bloody eyeball is later seen. One last violent act takes place when a sausage returns from the outside world with a severed human head, stating that “the gods can be killed.” A flashback is seen as a guy gets burned with hot water, falls, and gets decapitated with an ax. The impact itself is not seen but we see the ax fall from the wall and hear the result. A character tells another to go kill himself.

There is loads more disrespectful and crude humor, including plenty of racial jokes and stereotypes, talking feces, and a roll of toilet paper sharing a horrific experience. Some food items are portrayed as Nazis, and stabs are made at the Jewish culture. There is a huge party thrown in the liquor aisle, where many groceries are drunk and party up a storm. A bottle of tequila is seen drunk every time we see him, and a talking piece of gum in a wheelchair appears to be making fun of Stephen Hawking. There is a fair chunk of drug use, as groceries smoke marijuana and a bong is seen at a man’s house. Characters make numerous drug references, and a drug deal also goes down. One guy injects himself with bath salts and begins to hallucinate. A sausage quips “You’re not tweaking, you’re peaking.” More drug use takes place during the huge orgy at the end of the film.

“I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me.” —Psalm 101:3 (NASB)

With all the filth contained within this film’s short run-time, it is not surprising that there are few positive themes on display. The closest we get is a small nod to teamwork and friendship. And I doubt those themes were tossed in intentionally. “Sausage Party” is literally a 90 minute animated feature that attempts to push the envelope by displaying as much vile content as possible in the least bit amount of time. The content isn’t just graphic. It is pornographic. I am utterly surprised that this film avoided an “NC-17” rating, even after the edits the filmmakers made to secure an “R” rating. It may just be animated food products on screen, but they engage in crude, disgusting acts that would not fly by the MPAA if “Sausage Party” were instead a live action film. Shame on the MPAA. Shame on the filmmakers. Shame on the production company and its distributors for letting this film even happen.

Even if you’re not a follower of Christ, you should still feel somewhat offended by this film, simply because of the way it portrays life—one big, disgusting, self-indulgent party, without any point whatsoever. The message in “Sausage Party” is that life and the future isn’t all that big of a deal, and you should just enjoy yourself. Sure, you can help others out on the side, but be sure to focus on your own selfish, lustful desires. 1 Corinthians 10:24 says to “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.” Frank may worry about the future of all of his fellow food pals, but, deep down inside, he pretty much only cares about fulfilling his sexual desires with Brenda.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” —2 Peter 2:1

This one particular message in “Sausage Party” is more subtle than it is blatant. An anti-religious theme coats the main storyline by pretty much stating that we as human beings are our own gods. Faith is seen as a complete joke, and the film shares that we shouldn’t focus on nor worry about what will happen in the afterlife. The groceries may worry about their eternal fate, but the filmmakers use this as an way to share their own personal opinion that faith and eternal life are a complete farce. But Hebrews 11:1 shares that “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Although a work of fiction, the characters are apparently placing their faith in the wrong things. They are seeking hope in fallible human beings—not an all loving and all powerful God.

Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” In other words, to gain knowledge, we need to place our complete faith and trust in God. The only One who is perfect.

As if “Sausage Party” weren’t bad enough, the filmmakers just couldn’t refrain from including an anti-Christian message. The film is preachy, but certainly in a different way. Besides preaching hedonism, it preaches atheism—that we are on our own on this Earth and that no one greater cares or holds us accountable. This film couldn’t be any more false. Someone does care. Someone does love. We need to have faith, hope, and love. We need to find the right things and seek out the truth—the truth of Christ. God speaks to us through our hearts and when anyone watches a film like “Sausage Party,” I believe that every individual will feel at least a little bit of wrong in viewing such distasteful material. That wrong we feel is a conviction, our conscience. A conscience that needs to be cleansed—to be purified. I felt dirty myself after viewing this film. But we serve a God who forgives, and He makes all things work together for His good. He makes all things new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“Sausage Party” crosses the line on so many levels and is a film that should never have been green-lit, to begin with. The sexual content is beyond appalling, the language is unbearable, the violence is just plain startling and nauseating, and the drug content is the icing on the cake. Please, PLEASE keep away from this sick and distorted film. “Sausage Party” takes mindless entertainment to an entire new level. “Sausage Party” is a clear example of the downward spiral in which this world is heading.

Negative—I watched this with my daughter of 15 on streaming (it’s certificate 12 in my country). I admit I was curious. My husband watched only five minutes and found it sufficiently offensive with swearing to refuse to see more. I knew the end was an orgy scene, but thought how can you make cartoon food products pornographic? You can.

There are feel-good films, and this is definitely a feel-bad one—a world devoid of all moral content, where we are meant to laugh at suffering. There’s no respect for anything, such as, Stephen Hawking represented as a bubble gum. The message is simple, if God doesn’t exist let’s merely indulge in physical pleasure ad nauseum. I have read other critics and am worried for our world that a liberal outlook refers to a world with no restraints. We are not animals; God made us above them.My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4

Anj Gilpy, age 53 (France)

Negative—I have literally no words for “Sausage Party.” While it’s absolutely hilarious, it’s an absolutely vile movie. I took my girlfriend to see it last night, and the more I think about it, the more I wish I hadn’t. It’s hilarious, it’s creative, it’s clever, but it’s absolutely, disgustingly vile. For example: (no spoilers) One of the main characters is a douche. Seriously. A douche. The whole purpose of The Great Beyond is basically to screw. …the sexual references and innuendos are through the roof. The whole movie is about horny food that wants to be “chosen” so they can screw. There’s an extremely graphic 8 minute orgy. This was the absolute worst part of the movie. It featured extremely graphic straight, gay and lesbian sex and showed a bagel dragging a pita’s… Yeah… Across his face. There are literally NO redeeming qualities about this movie, nothing good about it (except for a few jokes here and there), and I feel like it was a waste of $11 and an hour and a half. “Sausage Party” makes “Deadpool” feel like a PG-rated movie.My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3

Fyzzymetalhead, age 20 (USA)

Negative—“Sausage Party” goes way too far. If this movie wasn’t pretty much all animated foods doing the action, this film would have easily gotten an NC-17 for its actions. The clean humor (i.e., a Meat Loaf song is sung by an actual meatloaf) makes up maybe 10 minutes of the film.

I disagree with the reviewer, and I have to say the animation is quite good, and I like the way that the different aisles in the supermarket make up different cities (for example the Tex-Mex aisle is like a Western town), but that makes it harder to reconcile the animation, which is as good as a kids movie, but majorly offensive language and actions. The film goes too far in one respect that would be extreme, even if the film had all G-rated humor, and that is to give the life not only to food but to paper towels and cleaning products, because where does the lunacy end when you do this. Food sure, but the douche, which occupies a central role as the villain, is only good as a one scene character (he acts obnoxious). This character is annoying, as well as offensive. See all »

The film is also offensive to the religious, by mocking faith. “Sausage Party” doesn’t really target Christianity (it pretty much leaves it alone, and Christ himself is not mocked), but by mocking faith it is offensive to Christianity, nonetheless.

I did laugh at some jokes, and I liked the joke about non-perishables being the immortals, and the film deserves credit for some very creative actions, and the ending of the film does let us know that this film is not meant to be taken seriously, but when it comes right down to it, “Sausage Party” needed to dial back the offensive content, and then decide limits for its lunacy. It goes too far and would’ve even if I didn’t find it grossly offensive.

Negative‒After all the “reviews,” I was too curious not to try to watch this. And, it was what they said. To be honest, I don’t quite understand how grown ups could think this is funny. I often watch movies with “swearing” or “violence” done in a comedic way, and often I find it funny. But I felt like this movie was made by 30 year old children who just discovered that swearing “makes you cool,” and the more you swear the more you can be cool!! I think the movie could of been actually funny if they just used less dirty language. More doesn’t equal funnier.

There were some parts I laughed at (like the food getting “prepared”), but, in the end, I just thought “who is laughing at this?” I guess the answer is, young kids who think swearing is super super funny.

Otherwise, I always am amused at the way Hollywood findd ways to “show how Christianity” (or religion) is soooooo stupid, and only blind fools believe in God. The anti-Christian stuff in this movie was totally obvious, but, again, it was like hearing a child argue philosophy with an adult. In the end, it was what I expected, and made me sad for humanity, that this stuff exists. I pray for these guys who made this. What a sad direction our world is heading. And what’s next? From these dudes, they’ll only be hoping to push the boundary further…My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4

‒Kev, age 34 (Canada)

Negative—I will say that I know from experience how raw Seth Rogen can be, but I am going to admit I found some of his movies quite funny—“Neighbors,” “Neighbors 2,” “Super Bad.” However, this is a movie of his I was not amused by. I didn’t find much of it funny, at all. I just saw this as sacrilegious, and I will never be able to make up for the time and money I wasted here. So sad people who were in the theater with me were either laughing nonstop or fighting to find the exit, which I should have followed the group who left to see “Pete’s Dragon.” Instead, I will never forget or forgive myself for not getting up and running away from the movie.My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: ½

Chris, age 27 (USA)

Negative—To put it mildly, “Sausage Party” is offensive, gross, and stupid. Too much profanity, stereotyping, sex jokes, and a clear hatred of God and Christianity. I could forgive a lot of the offensive humor, but the movie tries to be gross and nasty for the sake of it. Frank is an anti-religion zealot and talks down to anyone who disagrees with him. This movie has no godly message, and it tries to see how far it can go with being offensive. Was there anything remotely compatible with Christianity and God? Less than a handful.

1. The main villain is portrayed in a negative light and his pride and hate is his undoing.

2. There are a few (Key word: FEW) food puns that were not offensive; for example, there’s a moment when someone says “Okay, so…” and some queso thinks it is being talked to.

Movies that try to say “false religion is wrong” COULD work on one condition. If it was a movie that says “false religions cannot save, but there is one path to truth and godliness,” then that would be nice. But “Sausage Party” is NOT that kind of movie. It is a movie that says “Do what pleases you at the expense of others”. Perhaps the reader worked on Sausage Party or played one of the characters: God can and will forgive anyone and everyone who repents and trusts in the death and sacrifice of Christ (Romans 10:9; John 3:16). There is no sin too big that God cannot forgive you. Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.My Ratings: Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4

Peter, age 27 (USA)

Movie Critics

…A foul-mouthed and raunchy “Toy Story” rip-off. …Many of the sight gags and double-entendres are enjoyably dirty. Others are cringe-inducing… And the rest… I can’t even mention most of it in a family newspaper. …

Dana Barbuto, Rockford Register Star

…unquestionably the dirtiest film of 2016…

Leigh Paatsch, News Corp Australia Network

…foulmouthed, intermittently funny paean to sex and food… never is a hot dog in this movie anything but a penis with free will and the power of speech. Buns, meanwhile, are vaginas…

Chris Knight, National Post [Canada]

…crude and raunchy… an exercise in shock value… If watching cartoon characters spout four-letter words is your thing, this might well be the greatest movie ever made.

Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald

…hot dogs and the buns then engage in an exchange of dirty talk that makes Cartman in “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut” sound like Joel Osteen… relentless in its profanity and sex talk and extends the metaphor of anthropomorphic groceries into territory you and I might not have even imagined… a lot of cruddy ethnic humor…

Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com

…featuring a vaginal douche as a villain; a talking used condom… a tremendous amount of rough language and rough sex, and rough existential reckonings; and a climactic orgy…

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

…rude, crude and not for kids… It’s so outlandish that the only way they can end the movie is in an even more over-the-top scene, a pornographic finish…

Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

…a self-indulgent ode to crassness… “Sausage Party” is little more than a 90-minute excuse to make d*ck jokes and say f***…

…you might find yourself debating whether the film is a Christopher Hitchens-style atheist polemic or a more pragmatic, William Jamesian exploration of the varieties of religious experience… focuses on the disruptive and liberating consequences of scientific thought [i.e., Evolutionism]…

A.O. Scott, The New York Times

…“Sausage Party” is an anti-religious parable masquerading as a comedic sex cartoon. …This movie features lots of animated food having sex, doing drugs, murdering people and defaming religions of every kind. …

Paul Asay, Plugged In

…This animated film isn’t willing to completely face the bleakness of its allegory of faith versus skepticism. …Though the filmmakers may not believe in a higher power, they still maintain a faith in raunchiness as an id-blasting form of liberation from rigid norms, spiritual, sexual, or otherwise.

Kenji Fujishima, Slant

Comments from non-viewers

Negative—Unbelievable. Here we are sitting in a ridiculous anti-Christian culture, and this is the last movie we want to see. Seriously, “Sausage Party”? This movie is insane. I can’t believe this movie is even out these days. Unbelievable. This film is not helping out culture grow in Christ. Filmmakers, you may say you have a right to make this movie and release it… You guys must consider your savior, Jesus, who loves you and has a purpose for you and your life, and accept him, if you haven’t, and surrender to him everyday!!

To everyone… do not see this movie. To the actors and everyone, Jesus has a plan for your life and will never leave you, nor forsake you, he will always love you and never leave your side. I’ll be praying for basically everyone in this world and that everyone will turn to Christ. I’ll be praying for the entertainment business, as well. God Bless!! …

Stephen Jacewicz, age 20 (USA)

Negative—When I saw the previews for this movie I thought it was for kids, but then I saw the rating, and I was like “how can this be rated R??” Then again, I knew the sausage character was definitely meant to be an innuendo. Everything does not have to be sexual and that’s what angers me about society. I went on another site to read about this movie, it’s a Web site that parents use to see whether or not a movie is appropriate for their kids to watch, and I will be honest, I laughed REALLY hard. I laughed so hard, I didn’t think I would be able to finish reading the rest of the summary. It’s just so incredibly ridiculous! There is no way I would pay money to see this. That’s money that could go towards my gas tank or something school related, things that are actually important.

I also wanted to add, regardless of age, but I’m particularly sending out this warning to young people: if you’re trying to live your life by glorifying God, and you make an effort to be cautious about what you take in through your eyes and ears, then DO NOT go to see this movie. You’re much better off going to the library and renting a movie to watch with your friends than driving to a theater and paying actual money to see this filth. I watch old Hollywood films for a reason. Movies these days are just absolute trash.

T., age 23 (USA)

Negative—Based on the review—I would never watch this movie. Lots of people are asking why this movie was made and released—in my opinion—it’s very simple—some people allow Satan to do his work through them.

Paulette, age 52 (USA)

Negative—The movie seems to be disturbing, from what the trailers looked like, and it is deceptive, because animated movies seem to be for children, most of the time, but this one is definitely not. A movie theater nearby, that my family goes to, had a sign saying “no children under 7 permitted to see this movie under any circumstance” but I wouldn’t recommend anyone of any age to see this movie.